Born into a wealthy family he rebelled against, Asher dived into the world of rock n roll, drugs, and women. A blond, tattooed, bad boy, he is the chameleon of Walker Security. A man who manages to switch from rocker leather hotness to perfectly fitted suits. Even effortlessly blending into the underground grunge of the cities. Because he’s lived that world, almost lost himself to that world, until he ends up helping Royce Walker, then a Federal Agent, and now his boss at Walker Security. Royce thinks Asher has conquered his darkness. Some days he thinks he has, too. Some days, he knows he never will.

Present day: When several women end up dead from a new drug on the streets, Walker Security is hired to help the police solve the crimes that have the city in turmoil. Asher goes undercover in the club scene for answers, easily calling on that darkness to fit right in. Why is it that only women are dying? What is this drug they’ve never seen before? Who is behind it? And why does everything lead back to a prima donna on the Upper East Side, whom Asher just saw in a nightclub in leather and lace? The very same woman he took to his bed?

Asher will face a woman seeking vengeance, whose past is a little too similar to his to feel right. Or maybe it’s a little too similar to be anything but right. But he’ll have to keep her alive to find out, despite her best efforts to put herself in harm’s way at every chance.

A woman on the run, a shadowy undercover bartender who decides he’s on her side the moment he pegs her wrongly to be a bar dancer. Cue the sparks, the banter and the near-immediate fall into bed because of the overwhelming attraction, while what appears like separate threats draw ever closer and start dovetailing.

‘Pulled Under’ sounds like the kind of read that’s up my alley and taking a chance on Lisa Renee Jones (a new author for me) simply means there’s another romantic suspense-author on my list to watch out for. And by and large, it was an engaging story and fairly well-paced despite the instant love/lust, with many characters who’d gained their HEAs appearing from Jones’s other books (though they’re foreign to me).

I’m still on the fence with the protagonists however, and there were parts of the book that had me raising my brows in scepticism. Sierra and Asher tussled over the past that hung over her life but they were mostly adults about it, despite the same argument about Asher keeping her safe vs. Sierra not wanting to endanger him coming up ad nauseum. But for a man who had never done relationships, for whom women were mere fuck-buddies, Asher’s sudden, unwavering all-in status with Sierra from the very moment he saw her—the flip of the switch so to speak—and the effusive words of commitment made it all the harder to believe, as was his explanation that it was just that way with him and his other Waker security mates. In addition, the threat to Sierra—elevated to be almost near-untouchable and all-powerful, drawn out tautly over most of the book—was simply wrapped up with an anti-climatic gun-shot that seemed to cancel out all that meticulous planning for an explosive takedown I’d been gearing myself up for.

In all, ‘Pulled Under’ wasn’t quite the perfect read for me, but a good one and yes, it’s probably enough to make me curious about Jones’s other books and the next Walker Security story.